Online Security Issues: Cracking Down on Hackers

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If recent stories of highly secure web sites getting hacked make you worry about hackers gaining access to your personal information (and bank account), take heart. While the situation is disturbing, there are still things you can do to protect yourself online -- and you'll be reassured to hear about the large companies that are fighting back against hackers.

Hackers have been in the news a lot recently. As a result, they’ve instilled fear in even the safest online shoppers and bankers. According to Tom Kellermann, a former senior member of the World Bank’s Treasury security team and now vice president of security awareness for Core Security Technologies, 98 percent of bank heists now occur virtually and are more common than most people realize.

Just recently, Citigroup Bank was reportedly taken for tens of millions of dollarsby anonymous hackers despite the world’s best security and an almost paranoid level of precaution. The Wall Street Journal reported that the heist, which Citigroup is denying ever happened, was committed by hackers connected to a Russian gang. The Journal also reported that two separate computer systems, one of which was connected to a U.S. government agency, were also attacked.

This has left many wondering just how safe their personal information is online. After all, if a major institution like Citigroup can get hacked into, why not our personal checking accounts?

On the other hand, it’s easy to convince ourselves that nothing like that could ever happen to us because we’re flying under the radar, using secured websites, and obviously a majority of us don’t have anything close to the kind of money Citigroup does.

Though it may be true that the chances of the average adept, safe Internet user getting their bank account wiped out is slim, that doesn’t mean that they won’t be affected by phishers, hackers, or any other number of dangerous online predators. Let’s take a look at a couple of cases that recently affected everyday folks and what can be done to protect your personal information and computer from these types of nuisances.